McLaren insinuates Lando Norris' penalty a result of FIA stewards 'setting new precedents'

McLaren has claimed that Lando Norris' penalty in the 2023 Canadian GP was due to FIA's new style of stewarding. The Briton received a five-second time penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct, dropping him from P9 to P13 at the end of the race.

Norris created a sizeable gap between himself and teammate Oscar Piastri during the safety car period in Canada, meaning that Charles Leclerc and Alex Albon suffered at the restart. As a result, the 23-year-old was found in breach of the FIA International Sporting Code, which states that drivers cannot slow down unnecessarily behind the safety car.

While Norris' penalty makes sense under the FIA's ISC, the governing body has been fairly liberal regarding the issue in the past. McLaren team principal Andrea Stella wondered if the penalty was due to the FIA trying to set a new precedent in the coming times.

Stella said, as per The Race:

“We spoke to the stewards right after the race because we thought these kinds of speeds under a safety car or even a virtual safety car shouldn’t be the reason for an infringement. We understand the position of the stewards, we understand that they may want to set a precedent so there’s a kind of new way of interpreting the way you have to drive under safety car.”

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McLaren to bring major upgrades over a three-race period

McLaren will bring periodic upgrades to its car over the course of the races in Austria, Britain, and Hungary this July. While every Formula 1 team upgrades its car ahead of one race, the Woking-based giant will introduce its upgrade package over three races before the summer break.

The MCL60 is expected to be almost an entirely new car once its upgrades are in place. The team made major changes to its floor design heading into the 2023 Azerbaijan GP and immediately saw an improvement in form, gaining hope for the future.

Stella called the redesign a “major overhaul,” which will influence “pretty much every single aerodynamic part” of the car. He said:

“Relatively soon at the start of the season, we realised that the car needed a fundamental redesign. That’s why the upgrades will be spread over the course of a few races. It will be noticeable. We had to redesign even some parts under the bodywork. That’s also why it took some time to be in condition to deliver these upgrades. I would say it’s pretty much the entire car,”

With an elaborate upgrade plan in place, it will be interesting to watch McLaren's progress in times to come.